excerpt from “Ontario’s sexual assault support centres say they are stretched thin and need more funding” by Carmen Groleau, CBC News, on May 26, 2022:
Ontario’s sexual assault support centres share that survivors of sexual violence are reaching out more than ever, but core funding from the province has not kept up with the increase demand.
“Many of these centres are funded at a 1990s level, but they’re seeing service demands that are more reflective of reduced stigma and more people wanting to talk about sexual violence today,” said Nicole Pietsch, a writer and advocate with the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres. The coalition is a network made up of over 30 sexual assault support centres from across Ontario.
Sara Casselman, executive director of the the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region, said her centre was already dealing with a much higher demand than it could handle pre-pandemic. Since the pandemic, her support centre has seen a 58 percent increase in the demand for individual counselling services.
Read the full article here.
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